Blackjack Tour's edgy ads too much for the networks.Some edgy commercials for a newly launched blackjack TV series have proven too much of a gamble for some major broadcast networks. Commercials that were to air early last month for "The Ultimate Blackjack Tour The Ultimate Blackjack Tour is a televised series of Elimination Blackjack tournaments airing on CBS. It debuted on September 16, 2006. The show consists of a series of televised Elimination Blackjack tournaments. ," a reality-style elimination tourney for black-jack, were pulled from CBS--the network on which the show appears--last month due to concerns about the controversial nature of the ad content. Other networks, including NBC NBC in full National Broadcasting Co. Major U.S. commercial broadcasting company. It was formed in 1926 by RCA Corp., General Electric Co. (GE), and Westinghouse and was the first U.S. company to operate a broadcast network. and ABC ABC in full American Broadcasting Co. Major U.S. television network. It began when the expanding national radio network NBC split into the separate Red and Blue networks in 1928. , also turned the ads down, UBT UBT Ultimate Blackjack Tour UBT Urea Breath Test UBT Universal Bus Transceiver UBT Ubiquitous Blue Tarp UBT Ubatuba, Sao Paulo, Brazil (Airport Code) UBT Unit Business Team UBT User-Based Tracking execs said, but UBT didn't make media buys on those networks. More ads are already in the works. One of the commercials showed poker star David Ulliott drawing a syringe full of liquid from a bottle labeled "steroids" and injecting an Ace of Hearts and a Jack of Spades with a needle. The second showed UBT player Phil Hellmuth--a World Series of Poker The World Series of Poker is the largest set of poker tournaments in the world. It is held annually in Las Vegas, lasting just over a month. A bracelet is awarded to the winner of each of the fifty-plus events which include all the major varieties of poker. winner and UBT series regular--loading a pistol and referencing the series' "quick elimination" format. The unaired spots were replaced by a tamer ads featuring Antonio "the Magician" Esfandiari, while others were distributed to UBT licensees. "CBS (Cell Broadcast Service) See cell broadcast. is far and away the most conservative network, so we knew there was a chance they wouldn't run them, though they've been great to us for the show," said Larry Kopald, chief marketing officer for UBT. "We did these spots knowing they were going to be somewhat controversial, but if you play it safe nobody notices you. The idea was that it was important for us to make a statement about this form of blackjack being different and more outrageous that what people have seen." The tour was picked up by CBS Sports this summer, and began airing at 11 a.m. on Saturdays in mid-September. The show has 13 contract players, known as Team UBT, who signed five-year deals to play on the tour. The team includes professional poker players Phil Hellmuth, Annie Duke, actress and 2005 Ladies World Series of Poker winner Jennifer Tilly and her boyfriend, poker pro Phil Laak. The Ultimate Blackjack Tour LLC (Logical Link Control) See "LANs" under data link protocol. LLC - Logical Link Control is based in Century City and owned by poker pro Russ Hamilton and his partners, including entertainment attorney Jon Moonves, the brother of CBS Corp. chief Leslie Moonves, former MTV executive Houston Curtis and Chief Marketing Officer Larry Kopald. Staff reporter Anne Riley-Katz can be reached at (323) 549-5225, ext. 225, or ariley@labusinessjournal.com. |
|
||||||||||||||||||||||
Printer friendly
Cite/link
Email
Feedback
Reader Opinion